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Holiday Gift Suggestions 



In addition to a wide selection of books 

 on natural history subjects for both adults 

 and children, The Book Shop carries 

 many other items that make fine holi- 

 day gifts. Below are a few suggestions 

 especially for children (prices mentioned 

 include tax and postage) : 



Bird Mobile — 21 brightly colored 

 birds make this mobile decorative 

 as well as educational. Of easy-to- 

 assemble cardboard $1.00 



Pebble Pup Set — A boxed collection 

 of 1 8 rocks and minerals, mounted 

 and labeled, to get a young col- 

 lector off to a good start. Also in- 

 cluded is a 109-page book, For Peb- 

 ble Pups: A Collecting Guide for Junior 

 Geologists, written by a member of 

 the Museum staff SI. 30 



Fossil Set — A collection of 10 fossil 

 specimens, including a dinosaur 

 bone fragment. Each specimen is 

 individually bagged and labeled. 

 Two booklets, Life Through the Ages 

 and Tour Own Collection of Fossils, 

 accompany the set $2.00 



For adults, The Book Shop has such 

 rare and unusual gift items as standing 

 drums from Northern Rhodesia, gay pot- 

 tery "piggy" banks from Mexico, color- 

 ful seed necklaces from Haiti, wooden 

 masks from Bali, lacquerware from Ja- 

 pan, and animal wood carvings from 

 Kenya. Prices range from $1.00 to 

 $56.00. 



Living Fishes of the World 



By Earl S. Herald. Doubleday and Co.: 

 New Tork, 1961. 304pp., 155 black and 

 white, 145 full color illustrations. $12.50. 



Dr. Herald, who is Curator of Aquatic 

 Biology at Steinhart Aquarium in San 

 Francisco, has provided the ichthyophile 

 and ichthyologist alike not only with an 

 excellent reference book but with a work 

 so filled with interesting facts and out- 

 standing illustrations that it is difficult 

 to set it aside. Through his experiences 



Book Shop 



as a diving ichthyologist and an aquarist, 

 Dr. Herald has had ample opportunity 

 to observe the behavior and habits of 

 fishes firsthand. These observations, 

 along with those of his colleagues, have 

 been incorporated into the text, and in 

 many cases a particular behavior trait is 

 illustrated with photographs taken in na- 

 ture or in the aquarium. For example, 

 accounts of the parasite-picking activi- 

 ties of certain small fishes and shrimps 

 are supplemented with pictures of them 

 performing their grooming services. In- 

 teresting anecdotes enliven what might 

 otherwise be, for the layman, dull ac- 

 counts of length, weight, range, and 

 numbers of species. 



Dr. Herald is especially interested in 

 the seahorses and pipefishes. To this in- 

 teresting group, in which the males rear 

 the young, he devotes four and one-half 

 pages, discussing the life history, distri- 

 bution, size, behavior, and care in cap- 

 tivity of various species. This is space 

 well used, as seahorses in public aquari- 

 ums command more interest than almost 

 any other aquatic species. 



In addition to the scholarly and read- 

 able text, this book presents one of the 

 most magnificent collections of both 

 black-and-white and color photographs 

 of fishes yet published. With few excep- 

 tions the illustrations are of live speci- 

 mens, many of them in their natural sur- 

 roundings. 



There are few criticisms to be made of 

 this fine work. The misspellings are few 

 and obviously typographical errors. 

 However, its value could have been en- 

 hanced had there been some indication 

 of size included in the photo captions. 

 Although average and adult lengths are 

 mentioned in the text, the uninitiated 

 reader may be confused by the discrep- 

 ancies in size of the yellow seahorse 

 (plate 34) and the trumpetfish (plate 35). 

 Likewise, the cuckoo wrasse (plate 67) is 

 considerably larger than the bluehead 

 (plate 68), although both are illustrated 

 at approximately the same size. Also, 

 the fact that certain fishes are figured in 



their juvenile coloration is not always 

 indicated by the captions. The blue, 

 French, and queen angelfishes (plates 55, 

 57, 62) are obviously young specimens. 

 However, the author does make note of 

 this in the text. 



Although scientific and common names 

 are constantly changing as a result of in- 

 creased information, Dr. Herald has done 

 a masterful job of applying the presently 

 accepted names. One discrepancy, how- 

 ever, bears mention. The name "pig- 

 my" sunfish is applied to Enneacanthus 

 gloriosus (plate 44 and page 180) when 

 it should be limited to members of the 

 genus Elassoma, which the author calls 

 "dwarf sunfishes. Enneacanthus glorio- 

 sus should be rightly named the blue- 

 spotted sunfish. 



Undoubtedly the best work of its kind, 

 Living Fishes of the World will provide 

 hours of absorbing reading for young 

 and old, amateur and professional. Along 

 with the other volumes of the "World of 

 Nature Series," it is available at The 

 Book Shop. 



WILLIAM P. BRAKER 



Assistant Director 

 The John G. Shedd Aquarium 



WINTER 

 FUR N FEATHERS 



{Continued from page 3) 



After viewing this exhibit in Hall 18, 

 visitors may follow their easy Journey in- 

 structions for a tour of animal exhibits 

 with natural habitat backgrounds rep- 

 resenting various climates all over the 

 world. On the tour, children will find 

 for themselves the answers to Journey 

 questions about birds and mammals that 

 make their homes near the two polar re- 

 gions, swim in frigid waters, forage in 

 high mountain regions, or inhabit the 

 torrid tropics. By filling in their ques- 

 tionnaires on these exhibits, boys and 

 girls may earn credits toward the Mu- 

 seum Journey awards presented twice a 

 year. 



{Continued on next page) 



December Page 7 



